Judas Priest Enjoys 2008, Readies First Late-Night Appearance—For heavy metal legends Judas Priest, who’ve been around since the early 1970s and have sold over 35 million albums worldwide, 2008 is proving to be one of the best years in the band’s nearly 40-year career. So far in 2008, the band’s Nostradamus—their first-ever concept album—is the highest-charting U.S. album of their career. On Sept. 2, the band will also make their late-night television debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live, where Priest will play a free 5-song mini-concert in Los Angeles, California. The band is giving away free tickets to the event on a first-come, first-serve basis at www.1iota.com, and anyone requesting tickets must be at least 16 years old with a valid ID. Good luck!
Little Feat’s Gets Help From Friends on New Album—The roster of musicians on the new Little Feat album Join the Band is a pretty good listing of who’s who in music. Helping to celebrate Little Feat’s 20th anniversary by lending their talents on the band’s first studio album since 2003’s Kickin’ It at the Barn are such notables as Jimmy Buffet, Vince Gill, Dave Matthews, Emmylou Harris, Bob Seger, Bela Fleck, Brooks and Dunn, Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes, Sonny Landreth, Sam Bush and Mike Gordon, formally of Fish. Formed in L.A. in late 1969, Little Feat has successfully blended rock with blues and jazz and other musical styles into a style all their own. Some of the band’s best known songs include ”Fat Man in the Bathtub,” “Oh Atlanta” and “Sailin’ Shoes.” “I’ve known them forever,” said Gill recently. “We’ve been friends and I’ve jammed with them plenty. Those guys were inspiring to me. I’ve loved Lowell George, the way played and sang and the funkiness of their records.” Gill sings the group’s renowned hit "Dixie Chicken" on the new disc, and plays guitar on another track titled "Spanish Moon." The new record hits retail outlets today.
Lynyrd Skynyrd Working With John 5 on New Album—Southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd will spend the last few months of 2008 putting the finishing touches on their first studio album since 2003’s Vicious Cycle, according to a report in Rolling Stone. But that’s not the news. The news is they’re working with guitarist John 5 of Marilyn Manson/Rob Zombie fame. “We’ve been doing quite a bit of writing with John,” Skynyrd guitarist Rickey Medlocke told Rolling Stone. “While everybody thought, ‘My god, you are going to write with this guy? How is that ever going to work?’ But this guy came in and is really multi-talented in all genres.” Medlocke told Rolling Stone the band—still on the road with Kid Rock on the Rock and Rebels tour—is eyeing an early-2009 release date for the new album.—Gabriel J. Hernandez